Public utilities provide electric, gas, water or telephone service to customers in a specified area. Utilities have a duty to provide safe and adequate service on reasonable terms to anyone who lives within the service area on without discriminating between customers. Because most utilities operate in near monopolistic conditions, they can be heavily regulated by local, state, and federal authorities. Generally, the local and state agencies are called Public Service Commissions (PSC) or Public Utility Commissions (PUC). Municipal Utilities and Rural Electric Cooperatives may be unregulated though.
Bentonville is a city in Benton County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 19,730 at the 2000 census. The 2007 US Census estimates that the population of the city was 33,744, ranking it as the state's 11th largest city, behind Hot Springs. . It is part of the Fayetteville–Springdale–Rogers, AR-MO Metropolitan Statistical Area. Bentonville is the county seat of Benton County. The headquarters of Wal-Mart Stores, the largest retailer in the world, as well as that of The Whistler Group, a major US manufacturer of radar detectors, are located in Bentonville.